📖 PC Hardware Glossary
19 specs explained in plain English — not as encyclopedia entries, but as the thing they actually change when you're deciding between two products.
🖥️ Displays
IPS vs VA vs TN Panels
IPS gives the best colour and viewing angles, VA the deepest contrast, TN the lowest price and fastest raw response. Each trades something real.
Read →Refresh Rate (Hz)
Refresh rate is how many times per second the monitor redraws the image. It only helps if your GPU can actually produce frames at that pace.
Read →Monitor Curvature (1000R, 1800R)
The number is the radius of the circle the screen's curve belongs to, in millimetres. A smaller number means a more aggressive curve.
Read →G-SYNC & FreeSync (Adaptive Sync)
Adaptive sync lets the monitor vary its refresh rate to match the GPU's output, removing screen tearing without forcing you to cap frame rate.
Read →🧠 Memory
CAS Latency (CL)
CAS Latency is how many clock cycles the memory waits between being asked for data and delivering it. A lower CL is only better if you compare it at the same data rate.
Read →DDR5
DDR5 is the current JEDEC memory standard, succeeding DDR4. It is not backward compatible — a DDR5 kit will not fit or work in a DDR4 motherboard.
Read →XMP (Extreme Memory Profile)
XMP is a preset stored on the memory module that tells the motherboard how to run it at its advertised speed. Without enabling it, a fast kit runs at a slower default.
Read →💾 Storage
NVMe vs SATA
SATA is an older interface capped around 550MB/s. NVMe runs over PCIe and reaches several thousand MB/s. Both are far faster than a mechanical hard drive.
Read →M.2
M.2 is the physical shape and connector of a drive, not its speed. An M.2 slot can carry either a fast NVMe drive or a slower SATA one.
Read →PCIe Generations (4.0, 5.0)
Each PCIe generation roughly doubles the bandwidth per lane of the one before. A device only runs at the generation its slot supports, whichever is lower.
Read →TBW (Terabytes Written)
TBW is how much total data the manufacturer warrants the drive can have written to it over its lifetime. For ordinary gaming use it is rarely the limiting factor.
Read →⚙️ Processors
3D V-Cache
3D V-Cache is AMD's technique of stacking extra L3 cache vertically on top of the CPU die, which particularly benefits games.
Read →CPU Socket (AM5, LGA)
The socket is the physical and electrical interface between CPU and motherboard. It determines which processors a board can ever accept.
Read →⚡ Power & Cooling
80 PLUS Rating (Bronze, Gold)
80 PLUS certifies how efficiently a power supply converts wall power to DC. A higher tier wastes less as heat — it does not provide more wattage.
Read →TDP (Thermal Design Power)
TDP is the amount of heat, in watts, that a component's cooler must be able to remove. It is a cooling specification, not a precise power-draw figure.
Read →🖱️ Mice & Keyboards
DPI (Mouse Sensitivity)
DPI is how many movement counts the sensor reports per inch of physical movement. Higher maximum DPI is a spec-sheet number, not a performance advantage.
Read →Polling Rate (Hz)
Polling rate is how often the mouse reports its position to the PC. 1000Hz means once per millisecond and is the competitive standard.
Read →Hot-Swappable Keyboard
Hot-swap sockets let you pull switches out and push new ones in by hand, with no soldering, so you can change the typing feel later.
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